Prime Minister's Plane Has Close Encounter With

From: Terry Groff <terry.nul>
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 18:16:53 -0600
Fwd Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 12:58:49 -0500
Subject: Prime Minister's Plane Has Close Encounter With
Prime minister's plane has close encounter with UFO in
otherworldly incident
March 28, 2004
http://www.940news.com/news/news.cfm?dir=national&file=n032827A&n=1
Jim Bronskill
OTTAWA (CP) - What fate the stars hold for Paul Martin may be
unclear.
But one thing's certain: Canada's prime minister recently had a
high-flying close encounter with a UFO. Martin and his entourage
were cruising above Alberta when their Challenger jet came within
an otherworldly whisker of a luminous object streaking through
the night sky. In a report to Edmonton air traffic controllers,
the pilot of Martin's plane noted seeing a "very bright light
falling" through the air, with smoke trailing, while the aircraft
passed over Suffield, Alta., on Sun., March 21.
People aboard at least two other planes also saw the plummeting
object, which was travelling "at a very fast rate of speed" from
a high altitude, says the report.
A copy of the one-page form, titled "UFO Procedures," was
provided to The Canadian Press by Chris Rutkowski of the
Winnipeg-based group Ufology Research of Manitoba.
Rutkowski, a longtime tracker of UFO sightings, obtained the
report from the federal Transport Department, which routinely
forwards him data on unidentified flying objects.
Martin travelled to a farm near Picture Butte, Alta., to announce
an aid package for farmers last Monday.
So was an extraterrestrial envoy trying to convey a message to
Canada's new leader?
Unlikely, says Rutkowski. What the prime minister's plane and
many others saw that night was almost certainty a chunk of a
comet or an asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere and burned
up into fragments.
An amateur astronomer in Calgary captured the blazing streak on
videotape. And it appears one or more such fireballs were seen by
people across the Prairies and as far east as Quebec.
In any event, it's unclear if Martin or his aides even glimpsed
the object that crossed the plane's path.
"I'm not sure of whether the prime minister himself was apprised
of what the pilot had seen at the time," Rutkowski said.
Justin Kingsley, a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office,
could not shed light on the question of whether Martin was aware
of the celestial sighting. "I don't have any other information
than what was provided through the protocol of the pilots," said
Kingsley.
Ufology Research of Manitoba publishes an annual study on UFO
sightings in Canada, including many cases involving meteors.
The group's recently released 2003 survey found that a record 673
reports of unidentified objects were made to various
organizations and investigators in Canada